Heart In A Headlock
by MakeThisGoOnForever
Summary: Cappie realizes that he has feeling for Rusty that are more than brotherly. Can he come to terms with these feelings or will they destroy the friendship he has already formed?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He looked nothing like her. Not a bit.

His hair was brown and curly. Her hair was blonde and straight.

Her face was strong and confident. His was fraught with indecision and uncertainty.

He was lanky and fragile. She was lean and always tensed to brace whatever insurrection came her way.

They were so different, but both of them occupied space in his mind . . . and in his heart. One of them was advancing in rank, though; racing to the forefront of his mind.

'Rusty.' Cappie allowed his mind to speak the name his lips could never form. "Spitter." He grumbled out. His palms viciously rubbed at his eyes, he shook his head as if in a daze.

"Fuck . . ." He groaned.

How did this happen?

_When_ did this happen?

Rusty was Casey's_ brother_. No wonder she never spoke of him; they were so **different**. He could see their struggle to maintain some form of relationship; it was hard for them. He admired how they tried. Maybe that was when he really started to look at Rusty. He began to see that even though Rusty was fragile he held fast to whatever he was determined to do.

Cappie had been surprised to find out that Rusty had walked out on Lisa, not as surprised as Casey, but still . . . He hadn't given him too much credit.

A big part of him felt guilt for that moment. Sure, he wanted to help the kid, but mostly he thinks it was to get back at her.

She always broke him.

He had wanted revenge, somewhere deep down. He knew it would hurt their relationship if Rusty had lost it to Lisa. Then again, he had never thought Casey would run to save him from that fate. He had felt guilt then. But what he felt now, well, that was something more crushing.

He found himself watching Rusty all the time . . . What would the image be if he had tainted that innocence? What would he see when he watched his every move?

Probably himself.

He didn't want Rusty to be anything like him. God, he would never let that happen.

But what could he do now? Rusty was invading his senses, moving in on his emotions, taking over his actions. It was becoming difficult to resist him. His smell . . . It lingered around Cappie. It drove him insane with desire.

It disgusted him.

It aroused him.

There were emotions running deep in him, _ugly_ emotions; they had flared up after Jen K and brought to a head with Tina. Everyone had high-fived him and put him on a pedestal, he had to force himself not to throw up.

He moved before his brain could register where he was going; before it could tell him to stop. He didn't need logic right now; he needed to be near Rusty. He just wanted to be around him.

"Cappie . . . ?" Rusty sounded groggy. "Mm, 's almost 3." He grunted and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he edged his door open.

"A.M.?" Cappie questioned, laughing nervously. Hm, he probably should have checked the time.

Rusty gave him a funny look before moving out into the hallway and gently shutting the door behind him. "Are you drunk?" He eyed him up and down. "High?" He asked suspiciously.

"I see Dale is still forcing that music on you." He evaded.

Rusty shrugged. "I guess I've gotten used to it." He paused. "Somewhat. Anyway, what are you doing?" He reached his hand out and brushed his fingers across Cappie's forearm. Cappie jerked his arm back.

Rusty's eyes opened wide; confused and hurt. "Sorry." He mumbled and stepped around Cappie.

"No, it's-" Cappie began, his arm searing with heat. "I just got into a little play fight with one of the guys, ya know? He got me good on the arm." He grinned and chuckled pointing to a spot, trying to convince the other boy.

Rusty turned to look at him, considering his answer with sad eyes.

'Ah.' Cappie thought, his lips pressing together. 'Those expressive eyes. That's what they have in common.' He looked down, shuffling from foot to foot.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you. I forgot you had a class at 8. It was dumb, it was nothing. I just wanted to hang. I didn't want . . ."

'To be alone.' He finished in his head. He raised his hands up in defeat, "I should probably get to sleep, too. Don't want to fail and get kicked out. Kappa Tau just wouldn't be the same without me." He maneuvered around Rusty. Halfway down the hall, Rusty's voice called out to him. He paused but didn't turn to look.

"You have so much more potential than you let yourself think." Rusty urged.

Cappie could feel his face scrunch up; he could feel the moisture well up in his eyes. "Yeah, thanks, Spitter!" He called back as cheerful as he could before rushing off down the hall.

"Cappie!" he heard Rusty yell after him, but he left him behind.

He made it back to the house in record time, feeling colder than before. He creaked up the stairs to his room, surprised at just how quiet it was. He shut his door and settled on his bed. Sighing, he flopped back, his forearm resting on his forehead and his legs splayed out.

He wondered if he was ever going to be with anyone who made him happy. He was only good at those meaningless flings, the shallow displays of male prowess. Girls came to him easily and guys just wanted to be around him to get in on the same action. No one ever really stayed. He had always felt so alone before that goof had showed up. He closed his eyes and fell into a fitful sleep; a sleep filled with blackness and cold.

A sleep filled with Rusty always just out of his reach.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

'Ouch.'

He grumbled and raised his head from the floor. "Shit." He grumbled, rubbing the left side of his face. He had fallen out of bed during one of his fits and now the sun was shining through his window.

It was nice outside.

"Why does it always have to be nice out when you feel the worst?" He mused to the window. Unsurprisingly, it didn't respond. He scratched at his stubbly chin, looking around the room. There was something right by the crack under his door. He crawled over to it and discovered it was a stark white piece of paper that was folded almost perfectly into a square. He stared at it for the longest time before finally unfolding it.

'_Cappie, we need to talk._

_-C'_

'_Well_,' he thought. '_That wasn't really who I was expecting it to be from._'

He stood himself up, switched shirts and ran a hand through his hair. He went to brush his teeth and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

"Ugh." He stared. "I look like hell. Sexy, sexy hell." He move his face to each side and examined himself. '_It's like Casey broke me again._' he paused. '_Only it wasn't her this time. It was her brother._' He looked down. "He doesn't even realize." He murmured before getting to work.

'_So, desperate for my attention that you're willing to get caught in the house now, are we?_' he sent the text to Casey. He found it all kind of funny, the note. She has his number . . .

Oh, wait. She probably doesn't.

She probably erased it when she erased her memory of them. She was too ashamed to let anyone close to Cappie know she didn't have it and too caught up in her reputation to ask anyone who didn't know about their past for fear of the rumors. So she would rather slip in in the middle of the morning. That was safer. Everyone would be asleep by then. Maybe she was cleverer than he gave her credit for, sometimes. His phone buzzed.

'_Meet me at your secret place sometime tonight. Whenever you're free._'

There was a tugging at his heart. Why? Why does she have to keep doing this?

Why does it feel like she has to make sure that he's completely broken?

And Rusty's face flashed into his mind.

He felt guilty, like he was betraying him.

But that would be absurd because they are nothing. _**He**_ is nothing to Rusty.

If only Rusty knew how quickly he was taking over his senses.

He mustered up every ounce of strength left in himself and told Casey no.

He wasn't playing this game anymore.

He turned his phone off, for the first time in a year. Snatching his bag off the floor he headed off to his classes, looking forward to just getting them over and maybe going to see Rusty later. He needed to apologize and make up for his wacky behavior. Mostly just to be with him, though. That's all he wants.

It's all he needs right now.

"Oh, it's you." Dale was surprised.

Poking his head in the door, he smiled. "Rusty around here?"

"Hey, get out." Dale huffed. "Rusty is in the library doing his homework. You know, the whole reason he's at college?"

Cappie quirked his head. What's up with Dale? "Is homework really the only purpose of college?" He turned and began his trek to the library, leaving a confused Dale staring after him.

He knew exactly which section of the library he would find Rusty. Despite his party boy ways, he knew his way around the winding rows of books.

When he spotted Rusty his breath caught in his lungs. He could hear his heart thumping in his ears. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was observe from afar. How could he disturb this wonderful, beautiful person?

He was hunched over books, highlighting and scribbling on papers.

Maybe he wouldn't mind if I just sat with him.

"Hey, Spitter." He greeted. Rusty lifted his head and frowned slightly, his brows furrowing. "Look," Cappie started. "I'm sorry. You're right, I was a little high last night and I wandered over to your dorm. I wasn't thinking about the time or anything, really. I just wanted to hang with someone and I guess you were the person that came to mind." He shrugged.

Rusty studied him for a moment, his eyes calculating. He nodded slowly, eyes never leaving Cappie. "How did you know I was here?" He asked.

"Oh, well I went to your dorm but Dale said you were over here. He's acting strange."

Rusty perked up. "He's having trouble with his girlfriend." Cappie nodded in understanding. "You went through all that just to apologize. You know you probably would have just seen me later, right?"

"I had nothing better to do."

Rusty's eyes narrowed. "Oh. I see."

Cappie froze. "No, that's not-"

"It's fine. I get it, I'm just a pledge. Not to mention just Casey's annoying little brother." He slammed his books shut and rose from his seat.

"Rusty!" Cappie panicked.

Rusty gave him a funny look. They stared at each other for a long while before Rusty settled back down in his chair. "You actually said my name." He gave a small smile, seemingly forgiving him for his earlier insult.

Cappie's heart thumped wildly in his chest. "Yeah." He responded breathlessly. "Look, I like you for YOU, not your sister." He reasoned that this was true, if not a little misleading about what kind of 'like.'

The other boy grinned shyly. "I'm not that great."

"You are." Cappie urged. "You're the coolest, most awkward kid I know. Scouts honor." He raised his hand, hoping this would loosen Rusty up a bit.

"Okay, okay." He rolled his eyes, blushing slightly. "What are we doing tonight? I can't stay out too late, I've got a huge problem set I've got to finish or Dale might strangle me in my sleep then pray profusely over my corpse." Rusty chuckled.

It was cute.

"Actually, I was thinking that you and I could have some bonding time tonight." He added quickly, "Brotherly bonding." A nervous laugh escaped his lips. Jesus, this was pathetic. "Just, you know, hang for a while. Talk. Get to know each other a little better. Just have a relaxing guy's night."

"Oh." Rusty studied him. "That's . . . Unusual for you." He raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm feelin' a little off lately. My game has been screwed up by someone." He muttered.

Rusty gave him a knowing look. But he only thought he knew; he thought it was Casey. He never suspected that it was himself.

"Where are we going?" Rusty gazed around him.

"Just trust me." Cappie insisted.

Rusty huffed and muttered an agreement. Cappie grinned. He was behind Rusty so that he could push him gently when he would pause to look around him. He had driven them about 20 minutes north of CRU to a small forest. He loved to go there and hike the trails when he needed to just clear his head, but he thought it would be the perfect spot to get Rusty to relax and open up to him.

"We gotta do a little hiking ." Cappie quipped. Rusty began to protest but it was quickly stopped by Cappie shoving him a little too hard forward. "Now, now; don't make me tell the brothers that you can't even _hike_."

"I can hike, it just doesn't mean I want to." He argued defensively.

Cappie had to catch Rusty a couple of times, not that he was complaining. The boy was not coordinated. He'd even asked him if his brain communicated with his appendages which earned him a glare. When they finally got about 3/4 of the way up the hill, he led Rusty out to a large boulder that was positioned on the side, seemingly floating. It was a rather precarious arrangement but it had never failed him before.

"Oh, I don't know . . ." Rusty trailed off looking doubtful.

Cappie wrapped his hand around Rusty's wrist, gave him a reassuring smile and tugged him forward. Rusty stumbled but steadied himself. Cappie sat down and patted the space next to him. Rusty eased himself down, leaving a sizable amount of space between him and Cappie. He hugged his knees and stared into the sky.

"It is nice up here." He looked at Cappie.

"Now, this is my really secret spot. I only come up here when everything is going horribly wrong. Which means I've only been here a handful of times." Cappie explained.

"Then . . . Why bring me here?" Rusty asked softly, avoiding eye contact.

"I just really felt like sharing it with you." Cappie smiled at Rusty, who turned back to the sky. Cappie watched him, took him in. He studied his features; his eyes that were reflecting the star-filled night sky, his jaw line, and settling on his lips.

His bottom lip had a few minor indents and scrapes, probably from where he chewed on his lip when he was concentrating or when he was nervous.

They were pale, but fuller than most other guys, still not quite feminine. Not like . . . Well, who wants to think of her right now.

He was just beginning to wonder what they tasted like when Rusty's voice brought him out of his trance.

" . . . At?"

"Mmm, what?"

"What are you staring at?" Rusty's eyes pierced his. He was like a deer caught in the headlights of a car that was careening towards him.

"You." There wasn't much point in lying. It was obvious what direction he had been staring at.

"Yeah, but why?" Rusty reached up to his face. "Is there something there? Crap, how long have you let me walk around like this?" He wiped at his cheek.

There was an internal debate inside Cappie as to whether or not he should admit why he was staring at him or laugh and say Rusty had highlighter mark on his face.

He decided on the latter.

"Did I get it?" Rusty grunted.

Cappie paused, contemplated, and then replied, "No." Rusty moved to wipe again but Cappie stopped him. "Here, let me." He brought his hand up and rubbed Rusty's cheek. When he pulled his hand away, it felt like it was on fire.

He felt like that car that had been careening towards him might have hit its mark.

"Got it!" He breathed and backed away.

"Thanks. God, that was embarrassing." He laughed and touched his cheek.

"Nah, it wasn't a big deal. If I had seen it before I would have told you." Cappie paused and then added thoughtfully, "I got your back, Rusty."

It was another one of the few times his name had left his lips. It made his heart race just like it had before.

It will probably always garner that very reaction.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

He was lying on his bed, head in his hands and legs stretched out when he heard a knock on his door. Groaning, he responded, "Yeah, come in."

When the door opened, he was surprised.

It was Rusty.

He bolted upright. "I thought you had stuff you had to get done?" He nervously wiped his sweaty palms on his legs..

Rusty said nothing. He shut the door, locked it and turned to look at Cappie. The look in his eyes made Cappie gulp and shift on his bed.

". . . You okay?"

Still, he didn't answer. After a few more seconds, Rusty moved to the bed and sat down, his back to Cappie.

Worry welled up in Cappie. "Hey . . ." He reached his hand forward and placed it on Rusty's back. The other boy stiffened in response. "Rusty, what's wrong?" Cappie shook Rusty's shoulder roughly before forcing his body to turn and face him. The sight that greeted him both excited and terrified him.

Rusty's eyes were glazed over and his face was flushed red. His chest heaved with heavy breaths. Cappie felt heat spread throughout his abdomen and creep up his spine. His member twitched.

Both of them said nothing and then, out of nowhere, they were tangled in each other; teeth nipping at every spot of uncovered skin, hips grinding into each other desperately.

There wasn't much time to think.

He didn't even want to think.

He dared not speak a word; he couldn't bring himself to ruin this moment.

Cappie urged Rusty to move up the bed and when he complied, Cappie pinned his arms on either side of his head. He kissed and nipped at the younger boys jawline, his earlobes; anywhere he could get at. Rusty was writhing underneath of him, a moaning mess of a man, his hips rising off the bed to grind into him.

God, it turned him on.

Rusty began tugging at Cappie's shirt, urgent with his desire. He sat up and pulled it off, tossing it aside. He motioned for Rusty to lean up and began unbuttoning his red button-up.

'_How classy._' He thought.

He noticed that he slowed when he reached the bottom. Something felt . . . Weird.

He was nervous.

CAPPIE was nervous. The guy who bedded women faster than a fat guy downed a 12-pack of doughnuts was nervous about what was about to occur. It was life-changing, but most importantly, it changed their relationship completely. If things ever went bad, there was the possibility of not being able to salvage the friendship that came before the romance.

Then Rusty whimpered and Cappie lost it again.

He ripped his shirt off the rest of the way and that's when Rusty started pulling at his pants. Cappie had both of their pants of in a flash, the only article of clothing left being their boxers. Cappie pressed his full weight onto Rusty, who in return ground his hips roughly, more whimpers escaping his lips. Cappie latched onto Rusty's neck and ground himself deeper onto the smaller boy. Maybe it was his tongue flicking out over the taught skin of his neck, or maybe it was the occasional nip that was driving Rusty crazy - Cappie wasn't sure; what he was sure of was that the smaller boy was going wild beneath him. His moans were taking Cappie down with him.

He pulled at Rusty's waistband, telling him to lift his hips making it easier to remove his boxers. They had to pause for Cappie to remove his own, and then they were on each other again. When Cappie felt Rusty's hardness against his own, he almost came right then. He was actually surprised Rusty hadn't. Their rocking motions became more erratic, their breaths came in hot puffs into each other's ears. Rusty's body tensed, his mouth opened in a silent moan, and he shuddered into Cappie. Cappie's hips gave a few more erratic thrusts before . . .

Before his eyes snapped open and the thing that filled his vision was his ceiling, not Rusty's flushed cheeks and half-lidded eyes. His chest was heaving and he felt stickiness in his pants that he hadn't experienced since middle school.

With the realization that everything he thought had just occurred was, in reality, not real - a frustrated cry escaped his mouth.

"What the fuck?!" He punched repeatedly into his mattress, gritting his teeth together in frustration.

He heard a couple of shouts echoing in the house and then what sounded like a bull stomping up the stairs. Probably Beaver. There were some thumps on the door and then Beave's muffled voice saying something about rescuing the last pop-tart for him. When Cappie didn't answer, Beaver knocked again. "You there?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm here. You eat it, dude. I'm not really that hungry right now." Cappie sighed, rolling out of bed to examine the damage in his pants. A series of curses resounded into the room, causing Beaver to scamper off.

As he stripped his soiled boxers and ruffled through his room for a clean pair, he was hit with the stark realization that this wasn't going to simply go away. It wasn't even going to take a while, like it had with Casey. This was a deeper rooted affection that he was, frankly, just not familiar with. And it was getting kind of scary. He felt like a creep, like he had **raped** Rusty or something. The fear he had felt in his dream about ruining their friendship, well, with his erratic behavior he would do that on his own without any kind of confession.

So, he needed to just tell Rusty what was going on. It was better to just lay it out and have an awkward ending than a blowout if he ever lost control.

But he needed to rally his strength and get a little drunk before that happened.

_Tomorrow_, he would face his demons.

"Hey, Beaver!" He called out. "I take it back, I _**am**_ hungry. LUNCH BUFFET!" His yell was met with roaring cheers that resounded throughout the entire house.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Rusty!" The sharp tone of his sister's voice cut through the crowd to Rusty's ears. He turned to see her quickly stomping towards him, her heels clicking viciously on the concrete.

"Oh, hey." He answered warily when she got close enough. "It's weird for you to acknowledge me so openly." He grinned at her sheepishly.

"Look, cut the crap. Is Cappie alright?" She asked, a little out of breath.

His lips pressed together into a thin line, his eyes accusing. He sighed roughly. "Why do you care?" He finally asked softly.

She flinched and looked down at the ground. "I know that I have no right to intrude on his life. I know." She insisted. "I've been horrible and I've led him on on multiple occasions. And I'm happy with Max. I am." Her eyes wandered around before settling back on Rusty. "But that doesn't mean I don't care about him. I love him, but I'm not _in_ love with him. I just . . ." She trailed off. "I need to know that he's going to be okay, that he'll be able to move on."

Rusty bit his bottom lip. She was sincere, he could see that. But he was still iffy on her being a part of Cappie's life. Cappie may not have been cleaning lately, but he sure as hell wasn't acting like himself. No flings, not too many beers, and that trip out to his really secret spot was just plain odd; nice, but odd.

"He's acting a little strange." He finally conceded. "But I don't think you need to get involved." He reasoned. "Let him figure this out on his own. He's a big boy, Casey. I think he'll be fine but you gotta stop popping in and out of his life. It isn't helping. If you want, I can keep you updated." She breathed a sigh of relief. "If he gets too out of control, I'll tell you." His phone buzzed.

"You know, Rusty," He looked back up at Casey. "You're a good guy. It's a shame it took me so long to figure this out." She added sadly before she smiled and departed.

He stood there for a minute, smiling after her, before he remembered to check his phone.

'Spitter, lunch buffet!" It was from Wade.

"Crap." He mumbled.

Maybe he had spoken too soon about Cappie being alright.

When Rusty arrived at The Gentlemen's Club, he was fairly certain that he was going to encounter a drunk and obstinate Cappie; a girl draped over his legs, possibly grinding in his lap. The image made his mouth twitch with agitation. Cappie can be a real dunce.

When he got inside, there were plenty of girls and even more drinks. Yet, two of the brothers didn't have girls draped all over them - Heath and Cappie.

A wave of relief and pleasant surprise washed over Rusty, a sloppy grin settling on his face. Sure, Cappie had a beer in his hand and most likely it wasn't his first, but he wasn't falling, incoherent, or acting like a whore.

Maybe this wouldn't be a disaster after all.

Rusty shuffled over to where Cappie was lounging and talking excitedly with Heath, his hands waving around vigorously. When Cappie noticed rusty approaching his mouth clamped shut and he snapped his hands to his side. Heath instinctively turned to smile, knowing it was Rusty by Cappie's reaction. He pulled off the innocent look with perfection, if only Cappie's tense body language could have been controlled. Rusty frowned and rolled his eyes.

How subtle, Cappie.

"Spitter!" Cappie laughed nervously. "Heeeeeey. Glad you could make it." Rusty had been around Cappie enough to know that meant 'who the hell invited you?'

He was seized by a sudden rage in the pit of his stomach. Heath, who was now glaring sideways at Cappie, tried to remedy the situation. He patted the space next to him, smiling warmly, and apologized on Cappie's behalf. He was a little out of it from all the beers he'd had.

They had conveniently kicked in when Rusty had made his presence known.

It was plausible.

Maybe . . .

Probably not.

Cappie smiled tightly at him, losing interest in continuing on his earlier conversation with Heath. Rusty crossed his arms and leered at the people who passed by in front of him. Heath sat between the two, fidgeting and uncomfortable.

So, this _was_ going to be a disaster.

But Cappie wasn't motioning girls over to him; he was just sipping on his beer. Rusty softened a bit at this. He caught Cappie glancing anxiously his way. Rusty sighed.

"Can you give is a minute?" He asked Heath. The other boy nodded vigorously and practically leapt out of his spot. Cappie looked at Rusty, took another sip of his beer and then scooted up next to him.

Rusty's face flushed; Cappie didn't leave any space between them. The heat from his body seeped into Rusty, seeped right into his core. Now _he_ was the one who was tense and anxiously looking at the other.

"So, what caused this?" Rusty motioned towards the clumsy group of driven fraternity boys.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why did you get this thing going?" Rusty slumped back into his seat and stared at Cappie. Cappie opened and closed his mouth several times before lapsing into a long silence. Neither of them noticed that they had begun leaning heavily onto each other. Unsure of what to do, Rusty plucked the beer from Cappie's hand and took a sip, screwing his face up a little at the taste. It always tasted bad at first.

"I just wanted to have a good time before . . ." He trailed off and they lapsed into another silence. He began dozing off, his head slowly leaning towards Rusty's shoulder. Rusty's face flushed again, but he wasn't worried. No one was paying any attention to them.

"Before what?" He jiggled his shoulder around slightly, bouncing Cappie's head. "Cappie?"

Silence.

Either the older boy had fallen asleep or he was pretending to avoid the question. Rusty sighed but sat still. He took another sip of the beer before he set it on the table. He didn't notice his own drowsiness or his head falling to lean on Cappie's. Before long they were nestled into each other, sleeping through the shouts and thumping music.

Heath looked over at them, rolled his eyes and then smiled.

Cappie twitched awake, eyes groggy and a pressure in his stomach. He tried to look around and realized he was upside down.

"What the-?" He yelped.

"I got ya, Cap." Came Beaver's voice.

Oh. It was Beaver. And he was carrying him. But he wasn't drunk enough to constitute this, was he?

"You can put me down, buddy. I think I can handle it from here." Beaver hefted him over his shoulder and plunked him down on the ground. He swayed at first, but that was probably from the blood that had rushed to his head. He patted Beaver's shoulder to reassure him some more.

"We woke Russ up, but we just assumed you were piss drunk." He laughed, patting him on the shoulder.

Cappie froze. "Oh, shit." He mumbled.

Rusty.

"Where is Spitter, anyway?"

"He looked a little embarrassed when we woke him up. Can't blame him. Who falls asleep with all those hot mamas around?" Beave shook his head, smiling. "He pushed past us. I think he's walking back to campus."

He looked down at his watch.

12:01.

It was like a sign.

He grinned up at Beaver, smacked his shoulder and bolted out the door; Beaver stared after him, his mouth open. Cappie hoped Rusty knew which direction was the way back to campus. He was relieved when he caught sight of the other boy a couple of minutes later. Rusty turned before he had reached him and surprise flashed across his features.

"What are you-?" Cappie cut him off, shushing him and panting.

"Oh, god." He breathed. "Maybe I should exercise more." He folded his body over, hands pressed into his knees.

Rusty chuckled. "More?"

"Okay, okay. I get it, I don't really exercise." He took in a deep breath and stood up.

Rusty looked away awkwardly. "Why were you running?"

"I had to catch up to you." Rusty snapped his head in his direction.

"Why?"

Cappie just stared at him. He didn't know how to express his feelings without sounding like an idiot.

Or Creepy. Creepy is bad.

Rusty stood there, looking at him expectantly.

"I . . . Like you." Cappie exhaled.

Time stopped for a minute. Rusty's eyes slowly widening until it looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. He stumbled backwards a bit; Cappie threw out his hands to steady him.

His heart was thumping in his chest and his face was hot. Cappie _liked_ him.

"You **like** me?" He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

Cappie swallowed and nodded his head. "Yeah, Rusty. I like you." His eyes were sincere, his voice steady.

"What does that even mean?" He was confused.

Cappie quirked his head and smiled a little. "Well, it means that you have something that makes my brain release these chemicals that make different parts of my body react to each other-" The look Rusty was giving him made him stop and answer for real. "It means that I want to be with you."

Rusty's head swam with thoughts at this confession. Cappie, the lady killer, the skirt chaser, liked him? Little old Rusty? He had dated a senator's daughter, for Pete's sake. It was too unbelievable. He narrowed his eyes.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Cappie's face fell. "No, Rusty, it's not a joke." He held his hands up defensively. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, either. It doesn't have to, does it?" He trailed off, his eyes downcast.

"But when . . . ?"

Cappie shrugged. "I don't know exactly when it started, but I noticed that I was watching you all the time, really watching you. I couldn't stop thinking about you; I just wanted to be around you all the time."

Rusty took a moment to ponder before he opened his mouth again. "That night that you came to my dorm room?"

"I wanted to see you."

"And the hiking trip?"

"I wanted to be alone with you."

Rusty's body hummed. His hands were shaking and he took a breath to steady his nerves. "What do we do now?"

Cappie looked to the side. "Well, you could reject me." He winced, "Or, you could give me a shot. I mean, I am a very attractive fellow, if I do say so myself. I don't think anyone would blame you for giving me a try." He smirked.

Rusty's lips twitched up at the sides. Even in this kind of situation Cappie had to crack jokes. But he was nervous; his eyes betrayed him. Rusty stepped closer to Cappie. "What if it doesn't work?"

Cappie heaved a heavy sigh. "There's always that possibility. It's happened to me before." Rusty nodded; it had happened to him, too. "But that doesn't mean that it wasn't worth it."

Rusty lowered his head, thinking; Jen came to his mind. She was his first. She had ripped him apart with her lies. But, would he honestly do any different if he had the choice?

Cappie jumped when he felt fingers intertwine with his. Rusty looked up, face flushed and eyes twinkling.

"We better get back before they send out a search party." He tugged Cappie in the direction of the campus. Cappie grinned, falling into place next to Rusty.

"Hey, maybe we'll get to find out if you're a spitter at everything!" He joked suggestively, nudging Rusty. Rusty made a strangled noise and shoved Cappie ahead of him.

"You're really unbelievable!"

"You're right. I'll ask your exes if they know, especially _Tina._"

Rusty's face flushed with embarrassment and anger. Both of them bickered, walking back to campus.

They didn't know where they would be tomorrow, next year, or ten years down the road; but they were both fully willing to stick around and find out.


End file.
